Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The Sky This Week - Thursday May 18 to Thursday May 25

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday May 19. Mars is low in the twilight.
Jupiter
and
the bright star Spica
are nearby in the evening
skies.
Saturn is in the evening
sky in the heart of the Milky Way. Venus climbs higher in the morning sky, with Mercury below it. The crescent Moon visits Venus on the 23rd, and Mercury on the 24th. Comet C/2015 V2 Johnson may be visible in binoculars in the northern sky.

The Last Quarter Moon is Friday May 19.

Evening sky on Saturday May 20 looking west as seen from Adelaide
at 18:02 ACST (45 minutes after sunset). Mars is low above the horizon, below
Aldebaran.

Similar
views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time
(that is 45 minutes after local sunset, click
to embiggen).

Mars is in the western evening skies in Taurus It is is low in the
dusk sky, but is the brightest object above the western horizon low in
the late twilight. You will need a clear, unobscured level horizon to
see it though.

Evening sky on Saturday May 20 looking east as seen from
Adelaide at 18:46 ACST (90 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is above the
horizon between
the bright star Spica and the relatively bright star Porrima. Jupiter
is now closer to Porrima than Spica. The inset shows the telescopic
view of Jupiter at 20:15 ACST on the 24th, Ganymede has just come out of eclipse and Io is transiting the face of
Jupiter.

Similar
views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent
local time. that is 90 minutes after local sunset, click
to embiggen).

Jupiteris
rising at dusk and is now reasonably high above the
horizon in the early evening this week. It is in between the bright
star Spica, the brightest
star in the constellation of Virgo, and the relatively bright star
Porrima. Jupiter is now closer to Porrima than Spica.

Opposition, when Jupiter is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, was
on April the 8th. Jupiter is rising as the sun sets and is visible all night
long. Jupiter is a good telescopic target
from around 8 pm on, and the dance of its Moons is
visible even in binoculars. The following Jupiter events are in AEST.

Evening sky on Saturday May 13 looking east as seen from
Adelaide at 21:00 ACST. Saturn is reasonably high above the horizon.

The inset
shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar
views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent
local time. (click
to embiggen).

Saturn is now visible in the evening skies this week. Saturn is a good
telescopic
target from 10 pm on. It continues to
climb into the evening skies as the week progresses. It is within
binocular
distance of the Triffid and Lagoon nebula and makes a very nice sight in
binoculars.Saturn is also very close by the dim star 58 Ophiuchi and will glide by it over the week.

Saturn is at opposition next month, but watching the rings over the coming weeks should see them brighten ahead of the planet,

The constellation of Scorpio is a good guide to locating Saturn. The distinctive curl of Scorpio is easy to see above the
north-eastern horizon, locate the bright red star, Antares, and the look below
that towards the horizon, the next bright object is Saturn.

Morning sky on Tuesday May 23 looking east as seen from Adelaide
at 5:36 ACST (90 minutes before sunrise). Mercury is prominent below it. The inset shows the telescopic view of Venus at
this time.

Similar
views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time
(that is 60 minutes before sunrise, click
to embiggen).

Venus
climbs higher in the morning sky and is visible in telescopes as a
waxing crescent.

Mercury is easily visible low to the horizon, it is within binocular distance of Uranus, and will make an interesting pairing.

The Moon will form a line with Venus and Mercury on the 22nd, the thin crescent Moon will be just below Venus on the 23rd and just above Mercury on the 24th.

Location of comet C/2015 V2
(indicated by the circle) looking north as seen from Adelaide at midnight on the 20th. Similar views will be seen
elsewhere in Australia (and most of the southern hemisphere) at the
equivalent local time. Click to
embiggen

Comet C/2015 V2 is in a good position to view at the moment, it is dimmer than predicted at around magnitude 8, while with good binoculars and under dark skies it should be visible as a fuzzy dot. The bright star Arcturus is readily visible and you can star hop from it down to the comet.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.